2i8 GUN, RIFLE, AND HOUND. 



same melancholy coursin' is to me the most miserably 

 contemptible," * would have remained unspoken. 



When, many years ago, I first went out to India, 

 I landed at the end of winter, and was promptly 

 ordered to a station as nearly as possible in the 

 middle of the great peninsula. By the advice of 

 an old qui-hi, I had taken out a couple of English 

 greyhounds, of good pedigree, which he assured me 

 I should find better for the liver than medicine. My 

 hounds had borne the voyage well, and arrived at 

 my new home in good condition, owing to my great 

 care on their journey up-country, which was both long 

 and hot. 



Arrived at my station and settled down, I was 

 naturally desirous of trying them, and accordingly 

 one hot April morning I had my horse saddled, and 

 soon after five o'clock I started for some barren 

 undulating country a mile or two from my bungalow. 



For some time I saw nothing. At last a hare 

 jumped up. The greyhounds, of the best blood in 

 England, soon raced up to her, but after a turn or two 

 she suddenly disappeared ! When I arrived at the 

 spot I found the dogs looking as astonished as myself 

 over an open hole. I confess I was quite unprepared 

 for this unsportsmanlike manoeuvre, which soon became 

 familiar to me. 



Before long I viewed a fox. The Indian foxes, 

 as I have said before, are exceedingly swift. Conse- 

 quently they generally give a good run, and in the hot 

 weather not infrequently beat good greyhounds, who 

 * "Handley Cross," chap, xxix., p. 221. 



